The Genius of Living Mulch

Soil that’s undercover, hums with life, and mineral exchange and immunity are high. Woodchip (for fruit trees), or hay or homemade mulch (for vegies) is fab, but underneath a living mulch of plants, groundcovers and shrubs – now you’re talking!

Living mulch is trumps as far as soil health (and therefore plant health), goes. And it’s so much easier for you – less work, less shopping, less lugging stuff around = all good here.

A good living mulch is diverse. No matter what you are planting – greenhouse, vegie garden, orchard – plant a mixture to stretch the benefits: add flowers to seduce pollinators, tap roots to open/ stabilise soil, a quick turn-around food crop to fill the gap until the next crop is ready, or a useful herb, for example.

Over time, as you cover more ground, and build a diverse array of plants you’ll notice steadier health. Go forest styles in all your gardens and you’ll be gardening less and enjoying more.

Living mulches in the veggie patch

Create good flow by sowing or planting new crops amongst the soon to be finished older crops or greencrops. Read all about how to transition from crop to greencrop here. The old crop protects the new, thus accelerating its growth. As the new crop builds in strength, slowly chop the old back returning it as mulch on the spot it once grew (aka chop and drop). Layers of depth and goodness here, including savings of your own precious energy.

If you are planting into bare ground, sow living mulches at the same time as sowing/ planting the crop. Include fast-growing groundcovers like radish, phacelia or crimson clover to quickly the soil quick-as, no mulch required!

Keeping the ground covered as much of the time as poss with plants makes your mulch go further. And when you don’t need as much mulch, it becomes achievable to grow your own.

Living mulches and fruit trees

There’s no end to the possibilities here! Perennial vegetables, companion flowers, herbs, leafy greens – grow a mash-up in the ground beneath your fruit trees.

For an easy life in larger orchards, school or community orchards create a living mulch with hearty growers like comfrey, yarrow, chicory, that grow equally as strong as the natural groundcovers. If some grass/ weeds grow through, no worries! You can even let the grass and weeds be your living mulch, see what happens! Most work really well, just chop and drop around the tree a few times through the growing season.

Perennial gardens

Renga rengas, lady’s mantle, pratia and hellebores cover the ground beneath hydrangeas, daphnes, magnolia, putaputaweta and kowhai for year round interest and a very low minatenance garden.

So many ways to roll with this my friends. You’ll be coming up with winning combinations till the end of your days.